Dr. Khaled Irani

Member of the Senate and former Energy/Environment Minister - Jordan

Dr. Khaled Irani is Member of the Senate of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and President of the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature.

Most recently, he served in Jordan’s Government, first as Minister of Environment, then as Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources.

Between 1996 and 2005, he was Director General of RSCN, which has a royal charter to safeguard the Kingdom of Jordan’s natural heritage and an agreement with the Ministry of the Environment to manage Jordan’s Protected Area system. He took the lead in setting up four nature reserves covering more than 1.5% of the total area of Jordan, and played a key role in the preparation of the national biodiversity strategy and action plan. He contributed to the development of a regional training and capacity building programme, working with the main environmental institutions of the Arab region, and led the establishment of an endowment fund for nature conservation.

As Minister of the Environment, he developed the institutional capacity of his Ministry, and took a lead in improving and introducing environmental laws, and preparing the national environmental strategy.

He set up the Royal Environmental Enforcement Agency, the environmental enforcement arm of the country. He mobilised donor funds to support work for the environment, created links with the private sector, and raised the profile of environmental conservation throughout Jordan. He also managed to phase out lead in fuel. While Energy Minister, he steered the adoption of the renewable energy and energy efficiency law, and the development of the renewable energy transaction policy that allows investors to participate in large renewable energy projects. He also founded e2e, a company providing environmental and clean energy solutions to the region.

Khaled Irani has Masters degrees in National Parks Management and Tourism (New Mexico University) and Arid Land Use (Jordan University), and a B.Sc. Degree in Soils (Jordan University).